Sanctuary
by Anne Shirley
Summary: Pacey and Joey's love slipped away the summer after graduation. Pacey stayed in Capeside, but Joey escaped to New York. Four years pass, and a turning point, then a tragedy brings Joey home to find if the love she left behind is gone forever.
1. Sanctuary Parts 1 & 2

****

Sanctuary Part One 

By Shannon Kathleen 

CAPESIDE 

April 2005 

Pacey Witter closed one eye tightly and peered through the powerful lens of his new camera. As the sun began to rise through storm clouds over the harbor, he captured the shot he had been waiting for with a click of the shutter. His hometown of Capeside, Massachusetts lent him the inspiration for most of his photography now. Only recently had he begun to realize the beauty in the small town, which had watched him grow from a small rambunctious boy to the brooding, sardonic but maturing 22-year-old man bending over the tripod at the edge of the dock. 

Here he had come of age, kicking and screaming. Here he had held his head high as he struggled through an abuse-filled childhood. Here he had fallen in love. Here he had lost love, watching his heart drive away from the Cape to a better life. 

Pacey straightened his back after snapping his last shot of a flock of geese taking a crash landing in the water across the Marina. He allowed a chuckle to escape his throat. It was a vain effort to alleviate the stab of pain that he still felt when he thought of her and to convince himself he had made the right decision. Josephine Potter, his childhood friend and love since high school, had needed to leave this town for a better life with out his strings pulling her back, he reminded himself. 

It had just been a high school romance, he told himself as he started to collect his camera equipment, shaking off the memory of the mistake he had made, the words she had said, and his final sacrifice. 

Time had come for his early morning shift at the Capeside Yacht Club. After two years working giving tourists and locals sailing lessons, he had been promoted to manager of the rental boats and even some small yachts, but he still enjoyed giving the occasional sailing lesson. Most of the time it seemed more like a hobby than work. 

Pacey spotted Mitch Leery, his childhood best friend's father, steering his new luxury motorboat toward his own private dock as Pacey unlocked the shed that he called his office. He placed his camera equipment in his filing cabinet and jogged down to greet the closest thing he had to a father. Although his biological father was well known in this town as chief of police, John Witter had never shared with him any secrets to becoming a man. 

Pacey had not seen Mitch in several weeks except from a distance running his hugely successful seafood restaurant, and was suddenly was eager to catch up with his surrogate family. Pacey held a hand up as a slight wave as he helped tie up the boat. Mitch was greeted by Pacey's usual blinding toothy grin that always made people question what he had been up to. Through his smile, Mitch could see the young boy he had practically raised along side his own son, so lately it shocked him to see a grown man in front of his face with an outstretched hand. 

"Pacey, how's life been treating you?" Mitch reached out for the strong handshake. Pacey gripped his hand, trying to prove the man he had become. "You need to come over for dinner with Gale and me sometime. It's lonely these days with Dawson going to school in California." 

Things have never been the same with the two friends since their tug-of-war over Joey's affection that before had always been reserved for Dawson, which Pacey had won in the end. Mitch knew those kinds of changes happen while growing up. But the years without Joey had lent for some rebuilding with the friends, and Mitch was glad to see that happen. 

"Well, life's fair.... but things are starting to go my way, so I'd better get ready for the disaster that's destined to tear it all down," Pacey hinted he had news to tell Mitch. "I've just finished my sophomore year at Capeside Community College - a junior in need of a new school now." Pacey boasted with sarcasm and chuckled smartly. 

Mitch laughed along with Pacey hiding the fact that he was extremely proud Pacey had returned to school under his own influence and finance. 

The wind started to blow harder as the men made their way to the covered shops alongside the docks. The storm seemed to be gaining strength. 

"Well, it looks like someone you know won't need anymore late night cramming sessions," Mitch said mysteriously, glancing up at the dark rain cloud that had just appeared. 

"Oh, so Dawson got an offer to work on a movie out there in Cali, huh?" Pacey said, pressing back his urge to shout out loud that life was too easy for Dawson. "Did he drop out of school? Ah, no, no, no, Mitch, you should tell him that education is the key to success even for Spielberg." Pacey rolled his eyes and Mitch recognized the sarcasm instantly. 

"Well, not exactly..." Mitch turned to look at the tall boyish man. "It's Joey. She's graduating from NYU in two weeks; I just received my invitation." 

Pacey's heart stopped beating. 

****

NEW YORK 

Same day 

Jen Lindley ran to catch up to Andie McPhee, when she recognized her friend hidden under her umbrella trying desperately to hail a cab. 

"Hey, Andie," Jen shouted. "Wher're you headed with all of your worldly possessions?" 

"Hi Jen," Andie laughed to think of how she must have looked with all her luggage under a tiny umbrella in the rain. "Well, Jack called and said he wanted to visit with Mom this weekend." 

Jen nodded. 

"I hate to leave Joey all alone in that apartment." Andie winced as she stretched her arm into the air hoping one of the taxies would stop. 

"Is she still having trouble sleeping?" Jen asked, realizing she had not made an effort to see Joey in almost two weeks. 

"Yeah, and don't you tell anyone I told you that. I don't even think she knows I suspect that much. I just think she has this huge amount of pressure on her to be successful now that college is over. I know she has been on interview after interview. I don't think you could truthfully say that Joey has ever failed at anything though. 

"Yeah, I know, it's disgusting." Jen rolled her eyes. "The perfect are always harder on themselves." 

"Well, seriously, I think Joey is in some kind of trouble." Andie lowered her arm and turned to her high school turned college friend. "She doesn't eat much, and she is always up late at night, but oversleeps for her classes the next day." 

"Well, please do me a favor, Andie." Jen said. "Please tell me if you hear Will call her or come over." Andie looked puzzled by the request. 

"Well, OK." Andie said as a taxi finally pulled up. "But he seems like the best thing for her if she is feeling too much pressure. He seems like a sweet guy." 

"Yeah, a real sweetheart," Jen said under her breath as she waved from under her umbrella on the sidewalk at the departing taxi. 

Jen turned around to see Joey with her head bent letting her hair fall from her hood into her face hurrying toward her apartment building. 

"Joey, hi." Jen called out to her. 

Her high school friend looked at her with sheer terror for a second, but forced her face to settle back naturally. "Oh, hi Jen," Joey smiled, showing a small hint of relief, but instantly sucked back in all emotion. "I'm sorry, but I can't stop now. Let's talk later." 

Joey Potter ran into her apartment building just as a torrent of rain began to fall on the New York streets. She lowered her rain hood from her thick sable hair damp from the drizzle she had walked through. What a great time to run into Jen, she thought shaking her head at the near miss. 

Joey ducked into the modest apartment she shared with Andie, who had settled on NYU when Harvard admissions edged her out of contention. The two friends lived comfortably with Joey's grant and scholarship money and Andie's family resources. She felt the warm comfort of home embrace her as she closed and leaned against the heavily bolted door on the stress of the city. 

It had been a rainy spring in the city, making her actually want to return to Capeside. But maybe it was because there was something special about this homecoming - she was a college graduate. Joey had yearned to leave Capeside badly at 18 years old to attend New York University. She wanted to leave the town that had always considered her an outsider. She had never asked for the negative attention the town gave to her for her father's incarceration and her sister's interracial relationship. Since she had moved to New York, Joey did not miss the muffled murmurs of the neighbors. How could anyone consider her second class with the piece of paper she would earn in a couple weeks? 

Joey was secretly glad when she read the note on the refrigerator from Andie. 

The alert light flashed on the answering machine. Joey checked the caller ID and noticed her boyfriend Will's number listed several times. Joey let the machine run, and a husky, shame-filled voice sounded on the recording; she deleted the message, cutting off his pleas. 

Passing through the apartment, Joey glanced at herself in a small mirror in the hallway. Although her image was slightly distorted, she was able to take a long look for the first time without turning away. Her shoulder length thick hair hung close to her eye, hiding the slight discoloration around her temple creeping toward her eye. Just give him time, she told herself. He will stop this violence when you stop making him crazy. He is just under pressure, Joey told herself. 

That night, Joey had just fallen asleep on the couch when a pounding on the door woke her at one a.m. She jolted awake and felt the goose bumps ripple over her entire body. Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders, she padded over the cold hard wood floor softly to make sure the dead bolt was locked. Joey peered through the peephole in the door to the sight of her boyfriend leaning against the doorframe with one arm, his head hanging down. 

"Joey, sweetheart," Will's softened voice seeped through the small cracks in the heavy door, "Are you home? I just wanted to come by and see how you are. I am sorry about the argument we had…but I just went crazy when I saw you talking to that guy at school. I just get a little jealous…I know, but we live in such different worlds. This first year in this firm has been so overwhelming…we never get to see each other very much…" 

Will trailed off from his stream of consciousness. Joey leaned with her back against the door, her knees slowly sinking, failing to hold her up. Joey hardly recognized herself. She felt completely in love with this man, who seemed to have such a firm grasp on her. She had never let anyone control her this much. She had never had much of an authority figure in her life after her mother died and her father went to prison. Sometimes his possession of her made her feel safe and loved. Maybe it was just his way of showing he cared, she suddenly thought. 

Joey heard him turn away from the door and walk slowly down the hallway. Gaining strength suddenly, Joey jumped to her feet, unlocked the door and swung it open to fall into his waiting open arms as if he predicted she would. 

****

Sanctuary Part Two 

By Shannon Kathleen 

CAPESIDE 

Earlier that day 
    
    Stinging drops of rain started to pound down on Pacey just as Mitch handed him a heavy cream-colored envelope from his coat pocket. It hurt to think he did not know what was going on in Joey's life. 

"I thought you might want this," Mitch said mysteriously. 

As Pacey clutched the envelope, Mitch Leery caught sight of his wife Gale summoning him from the deck of Leery's Fresh Fish. Mitch offered the invitation to dinner again, but left Pacey standing in the rain, his eyes glassing over slightly and his throat burning. Pacey continued to realize he had made one of the biggest mistakes in his life in not being an important part of the life Joey had made for herself. Initially, he thought he would feel left behind because he had been part of the past she wanted to escape. Actually, all he felt was pride for her welling up in his chest. 

Pacey soon realized he was getting drenched as he stood holding the invitation. He tucked it under his shirt close to his chest as he raced in his dockside office. For the rest of the day, Pacey tried to work, but he could not help continuing to sneak a glance at the portrait of the girl he knew he would love the rest of his life. 

Amidst the changes he saw in her due to passing time, Pacey noticed Joey's youthful spirit shining through. The long hair he used to bury his face into was cut in a shoulder-length style that curled gently toward her slim neck. The style gave her a very feminine grown-up look. Behind her picture, he found a single ticket to the commencement the first week of May. Had Mitch given him his ticket? Pacey froze wondering what Mitch knew about the past and about his feelings. Was it that obvious? 

"What are you staring at?" A voice sounded from the other end of the building. 

A startled Pacey snapped his focus away from the picture. He slid it under his desk calendar with the invitation as Rachel Torrington closed in on his desk. How long had she been watching him, he wondered. Pacey rose to return the open-mouthed kiss she planted on his lips. For the first time, he did not close his eyes though. 

Rachel pulled away from him, and stared into his eyes while keeping a firm grip on his face. 

"Have you been thinking about me?" Rachel asked with a licentious expression. "I thought I would skip study hall to see if you needed me." 

"Needed you?" Pacey asked with wide-eyes innocence. 

Rachel swatted his cheek gently. Their secret tryst had turned into a 4-month fling. He told himself he would not call it anything more than a fling. She was a tall blonde 18-year-old high school student, who was just beginning to explore her sexuality. But being with such a young girl felt boring now most of the time. 

Rachel was one of the privileged Capeside natives he had grown to detest through his childhood. But she moonlighted as the wild child of her senior class, which was more Pacey's style. She was about to graduate at the end of the month and ached for a ticket out of this town like most young people. 

So, Pacey knew he could count on at least one more month of this "fling." Maybe this time he would be the one to leave before she had a chance. 

LOS ANGELES 

Same day 

Dawson Leery picked up the mail as he walked into his small studio in Torrance, CA. He had chosen an affordable apartment as close to the beach as his parent's budget would allow and only about 30 minutes from Hollywood and the UCLA Film and Television School. This was a dream come true. He wasn't a successful director yet, which was his ultimate goal, but he could almost smell it. 

A heavy cream-colored envelope slipped away from his film magazine and utilities bill. The handwriting spelled his name with the no-nonsense, swiftly written letters that seemed to have matured over the years right in front of his eyes. Dawson sliced open the envelope gently and peeled the flaps of the formal commencement invitation away to reveal a recent studio picture of Joey. She would become the first of his high school friends to graduate from college, and she deserved it the most too, he thought with pride. From behind the photograph, a folded piece of pale blue paper slipped out. 

_

> The latest message from my tin can here in New York connected by a string to yours in LA. 

> Dearest Dawson, 

> So, somebody in Hollywood finally recognized the next Spielberg? Congrats on your internship. I know it will be tough (especially for you) to start at the bottom, but it will pay off…and being at such a well-known studio could not hurt either. Do you know what your slave labor duties are yet? 

> I hope my graduation will not interfere with your internship because YOU HAVE TO BE HERE. Most of the guests Bessie has invited will spend the day in New York with me for the "Joey tripping on her robe and landing in the crowd" event. Of course, what would an event like this be without the creek-side picnic at the Potter Bed and Breakfast? 

> Will and I are spending the week with Bessie and Bodie before I return to New York to start my career (hopefully). I have gotten interviews with several publishing companies and advertising firms that need graphic artists. 

> Well, if you are interested in juicy gossip, I am not the one to depend on. But here is what I know about your old pals. 

> Jen nailed a job as an assistant to one of the officers of New York's National Organization for Women. I think she may have found her niche, but I am still trying to talk her out of leaving school. Will seems to disagree with me. Did I tell you that Will and Jen have known each other since they were children like we have? But Will is 4years older. 

> Andie is still keeping me up at nights. We can chat all night (mostly about her wedding), and we probably will until Andie graduates next May. Then when she finally gets hitched…who knows? Her fiancé is just like her; just wait. 

> You asked about Pacey in your letter last month. I have not heard from him in ages. The Christmas before last, I glimpsed him working at the Capeside Marina still. Funny, he is making a career at the very place I was fired. Andie says he is going to school at the local college. Your father will probably know more of course, but I know you ask me to see exactly how much we are keeping in touch. Well, no contact has occurred in two years, so I don't think we can all be pals again. I'm sorry. I don't think he cares about me at all. 

> Well, tell me more about this internship. I hope to see you in a few weeks. 

> Love forever, 

> Joey 

_

Dawson chuckled sheepishly at how quickly Joey could see past what he thought was a "hidden" agenda concerning Pacey. Every now and then, his subconscious made him believe that some of the distance he felt between the three old friends might be his fault because he had turned his back on them senior year feeling betrayed by their new relationship. He had been selfish then. So somehow he wanted to show Joey the same love she had shown him for years – selfless. 

NEW YORK 

The next weekend 

"Noon…and Joey has not gotten out of that bed yet," Andie looked at Jen who was making herself a peanut butter sandwich. "Come on, I have an idea. Let's go freeze all of her bras or put shaving cream on her hand. 

Andie grabbed Jen's arm and dragged her down the hall to Joey's bedroom. 

"It is Saturday in the last week of Joey's college career." Jen struggled to maintain her balance as Andie firmly held her hand. "Let's give the girl a break…and did I hear you say 'Let's put shaving cream on her hand?'" 

The erratic blonde girl stopped at the door and pressed her ear against it very cautiously, rolling her eyes. "We aren't really as old as you act, Jen." 

The door creaked as Andie peeked into her roommate's room. It continued to open slowly as Andie crept in, still dragging Jen along with her. Joey still remained deep in sleep and as Andie tiptoed closer, Jen tried to pull her out of the room. 

"Come on Jen," Andie tugged back. "I thought you loved adventure." 

Jen finally lost the tug-of-war and watched as Andie sat on the edge of Joey's bed and reached down to tickle her exposed feet. But in a natural reflex, Joey's foot flied into the air and smacked Andie in the nose. Both girls screamed at each other as Jen ran out of the room holding her stomach in laughter. Joey stared at her attacker, who she had just attacked back. As Andie held her bleeding nose, Joey tried to stop her heart from racing. Soon all three friends were rolling on the floor in hysterics. Joey hardly recognized the sound of laughter coming from deep inside her, but it felt good. 

The two other girls did not notice that Jen had stopped laughing. She was busy starring at the strange bluish marks on Joey's collarbone. 

Later that week 

Joey walked swiftly, swinging a white paper bag with lunch for two in her hand. She dodged the traffic of people leaving their New York offices to join the lunch crowd and never noticed when she smacked a few people in the side with her sandwiches. 

She could still glimpse him from her position ten paces behind him. There was a little chance he would recognize her in this throng of people, but she also did not want to lose him. 

Joey planned to surprise Will with his favorite sandwich for lunch because she had finished a final early that day. Her art projects had been done long before the due date. But Will was obviously not a good person to surprise. From the crosswalk across the street Joey glimpsed her boyfriend step through the glass doors of his law offices with his arm around another woman's waist. 

The tall blonde made Joey feel like a young girl again. She wore a sophisticated black suit with a short skirt showing off her leggy body. She put on her raincoat as she walked outside, which still did not hide her curvy figure. Her hair was shoulder-length like Joey's but styled in thick golden curls at her shoulders. 

Shocked, Joey looked down in shame at her dark blue jeans and red button down short-sleeved top that she had selected so carefully that morning. For the first time in a long time, Joey was ashamed of her small frame. After she shook off her self-conscious thoughts, Joey realized the crowd waiting with her at the crosswalk had swarmed around her into the street. Joey hurried along as the wave started to push her and she began to follow the couple as they headed up in the other direction. 

"Why do I deserve this?" Joey mumbled to herself as she bit her upper lip, clenched her fists and continued to follow the couple. "I would have confronted him in my past life. Who have I become?" 

After swinging along the bag of sandwiches for a few blocks, Joey let it fly into the street. The people she dodged and slammed into had no idea her heart was breaking and did not care that the crimson-faced young woman was struggling to breathe. 

Continued…part three 


	2. Sanctuary Part 3 & 4

****

Part three 

By Shannon Kathleen 

LOS ANGELES 

The day before Joey's graduation 

Dawson zipped up his suitcase and pulled on his LA Lakers cap. The shuttle to the airport would arrive any minute. He checked his carry-on bag for the small box he had carefully packed. He wanted the perfect gift for Joey because she had accomplished the goal she had made when they were so young. Tomorrow it would be her turn to shine. 

Instantly, Dawson thought of Pacey. He picked up the phone, dialing his old friend's number. When he heard Pacey's canned voice over the answering machine, he sighed impatiently. He had not spoken to his old friend in a few months. 

"Hey Pace, you there?" Dawson hesitated to see if he would answer. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that I was coming into town tomorrow. I am going to spend some time with the parents and Joey. I would really like to see what you have been doing lately…" 

Dawson was interrupted by the click of the receiver and Pacey's voice on the other end. 

"D-man" 

"Hey Pace. I wasn't sure if you were still alive." 

"Well, I had my hands full for a minute there." 

Dawson heard female laughter in the background. 

"Well, some things haven't changed." 

"Yeah, sure, well did I hear you tell my machine that you're coming into town?" Pacey changed the subject. 

"I want to take a sail in your new boat one day this weekend," Dawson said. "Do you have some spare time?" 

"Hey, sorry baby," Pacey said to the girl in the background. "My buddy wants some of my time this weekend…" 

Pacey laughed, bring the receiver back to his face. 

"Hey Dawson, I'll always make time for you. So, what brings you back to this rat trap?" 

Dawson froze with that question. "Oh, ahhh, just thought it was time." 

****

NEW YORK 

Joey's graduation day 

8:15 a.m. 

Breathing out heavily was the only way to relieve the pressure on her chest. She told herself she had to put a smile on her face and push images of her boyfriend kissing another woman out of her mind because her entire past was going to converge tomorrow for her graduation. She would have to deal with him later. She couldn't let anyone see that her life was less than perfect, not right now at least. 

Joey stopped ironing her gown and fought her subconscious from reminding her once again there were a few people from her past who would not be here tomorrow. Her mother had died from breast cancer when she was in junior high school, her father was still incarcerated in prison and Pacey was... Joey shivered and pushed Pacey from her mind. He would not even care that she was graduating, Joey thought, which was why she did not even bother to invite him. This is one of those days to put away in the mind's scrapbook and she was not going to let herself be haunted by suspicions and doubts of her boyfriend and pain from her past; she made a concerted effort to give herself confidence. 

****

9:30 a.m. 

"Dawson Leery, you look like a surfer right off Malibu Beach." 

Dawson recognized the strident voice calling out to him. When he turned to see her, it confirmed his first thought that Andie McPhee had not changed from the giddy schoolgirl cliché. Her baby fine blond hair was still pulled back with tiny clips; her dress still cut short in a baby doll style. But Dawson did agree with her about his looks. The sun seemed to naturally bleach his hair, and his skin had never been so tan. It took him only a short time to get use to the absence of Capeside winters in Southern California. 

Dawson smiled, giving her a long, tight squeeze. After they embraced, her brother Jack walked up to shake Dawson's hand. He had been a one-time enemy after Jack kissed Joey while she was his girlfriend but later they became fast friends, and the two college men still kept in touch by email. Jack played football for a college in Rhode Island and was starting a web design internship this summer in New York. He had always been a computer whiz, and Dawson expected him to become the first millionaire he knew with a start-up web business some time soon. 

Andie reached out to shake the tall man's hand, who trailed along side the McPhee siblings. 

"Dawson, meet the love of my life." Andie pulled him toward Dawson proudly. "Troy's a business student who will be graduating next December. I wrote to you about our plans." Andie held out her hand with the half-caret diamond sitting on an antique engraved band. 

Dawson reached out to hug Andie again. He congratulated the quiet man entering their small group of friends with a handshake thinking Andie had found someone who will at least listen to her quietly. Dawson could hardly contain his amusement, remembering Joey described Andie's fiancé as "just like her." 

Jack smiled as he looked at his sister shaking like a small puppy with excitement. "Andie's been so eager to see you all morning," Jack laughed. "Here you take her now. Our ears need a break." 

"So spill…who've you met in La La Land?" Andie spewed enthusiasm naturally still giving her brother a punch in his upper arm. 

Well, I caught a glimpse of Julia Roberts, filming in Beverly Hills…and George Lucas when he was doing a presentation for the computer animation department at my school." Dawson said with swelling pride. "Some of the guys in my classes have finally gotten out of the habit of spending Saturday afternoon with me in the Hamburger Hamlet waiting for someone famous to walk down Hollywood Boulevard." 

Andie giggled, giving Dawson the cue to continue. 

"I have to take you there when you come to visit me soon…and Pacey. I can't wait to see Pacey. No one I've met in California seems to be able to take his place in the antics department. Life is boring sometimes without him." 

Dawson paused and realized the absence of Pacey was an obvious void he felt surrounding his friends. Everyone felt awkward at the mention of his name. Dawson shook his head and thought, Pacey, you moron, what could have happened between you and Joey? And now this is the circumstance we all have to face. 

"Have either of you seen Joey yet?" Dawson asked. "We just came in from Capeside, and I thought I'd find you guys while my mother finds a place for the car. My father tried to come today, but he just wasn't feeling well for some reason." 

"I saw her early this morning," Andie said with a sudden scowl. "I don't think she slept much last night though because she was in the same place in the living room when I went to bed and when I got up. She usually doesn't watch much TV, but she was glued to it last night. Jitters, I guess." 

Suddenly Jen Lindley sung out Dawson's name as she jumped into his arms. He swung her around twice before putting her feet back on the ground. Jen was his first girlfriend and his first kiss. Both were constantly infatuated with one another in the past but rarely at the same time. Dawson let his eyes soak in her refined sexuality that came with the years, which Jen rarely exuded intentionally. 

Dawson laughed as Andie pulled an air horn from her purse with a mischievous glance at her friends. "Joey will just love us for this one." 

As Dawson put his arms around Andie and Jen, the small Capeside reunion melted into the crowd of other friends and family swarming New York City to see their loved ones graduate. 

****

Moments later 

Pacey heart leapt in his chest every time he pictured her face. He felt so close as he pulled his truck into the parking lot near NYU at the crack of dawn vowing to get the front row seat of this event. He had to take the best pictures of Joey with his new professional camera equipment. This was the defining moment in her life, and he wanted to be there. 

As he made his way into Washington Square Park, he looked around seeking familiar faces. He wanted to make sure his old friends did not see him here. He sunk down in his seat not sure of where they would be sitting. Mitch had sacrificed his ticket, so I would not miss this, but he had to be discrete, he remembered. 

Pacey lifted his camera to his face, focusing on the stage below with his powerful telephoto lens. 

"Now, you have officially become a stalker," Pacey chuckled to himself as "Pomp and Circumstance" began to play. As she passed him in the procession, Pacey could have sworn Joey looked right at him. 

****

Right after graduation 

"Where could she be?" A frustrated Dawson looked through the massive crowd of people leaving Washington Square Park. "Everyone is dressed the same. Why wasn't she waiting for us at the corner like we agreed upon?" 

"Joey is use to the city now and probably will make it home all right," Jen teased her nervous friend. 

Jen and Dawson hung back from the group of Capesiders, maps in hands, timidly fighting the people on the streets of New York. Jen was a native of the cement jungle, and unconsciously made her way through the streets. It might have been nice of her to take over the tour-guiding burden from Bessie's shoulders, but she wanted to spend some time with Dawson. 

Jen looked up at her old friend, who seemed to be scanning the faces in the streets for a certain familiar face. 

"Jen, how do you fight this maddening crush of people on a daily basis?" Dawson laughed as he threw some coins into the hat of a street musician. 

"But you deal with this everyday in a different way." Jen snapped back. "Everyone is just fighting each other from behind the wheel of a car in that town of sun, shopping and plastic body-part worshippers, which is destined to sink into the Pacific." 

Dawson was glad to see that her personality had not changed as she he searched her face for some signs of the 15-year-old he had first met. Did he pick up on some anxiety? 

Jen winced as she prepared to tell him some bad news. 

****

FIVE BLOCKS AWAY 

Later that afternoon 

Joey ducked down into Will's Mitsubishi sports car after placing her large duffel bag into the small backseat. 

"Ready to go," She turned to her boyfriend studying the map. "Will we make it before the party starts at 7 tonight?" Joey asked. 

Joey glanced at the clock on the dashboard. 2:38 p.m. Bessie, Dawson and her friends were probably already heading into Massachusetts by now. Joey had been disappointed when Will told her that her family and friends had not been waiting in the agreed-upon spot. But he had met her as she was leaving the park, bearing flowers and kisses, so she had not thought to look for her family harder. But she felt their presence as she walked across the stage. She even thought she heard an air gun when her name was called. That would have been something Pacey would have done, Joey thought wistfully. 

"I want the entire town to meet the new Josephine Potter," Joey blurted out. "There she is, Joey Potter, the New Yorker…Joey with the perfect man; Joey, the artist. That is what they all will say." 

She hoped she was far from the little tomboy who grew up on the creek, practically orphaned by her father, who she watched ride away in a police car. 

"Man, your hometown's down in the sticks." Will said. 

"No, it's not. You're going to love it." Joey drifted back to the years she spent in Capeside. "Well, when I was not dreaming about moving away, living near the water did not completely suck. My home's on a small creek that leads to the Cape, which is where the main part of town sits. We should rent a boat and go sailing while you are here. Someone taught me years ago. It is probably like riding a bike." 

The two New Yorkers, one a native, the other a fresh transplant, headed toward Joey's past. Almost four years had past since Dawson and Bessie had dropped her off as a freshman in the big city. She had been so scared then, so worried that she would fail after being so close to freedom. Had she really met the goals she had set over a decade ago when she watched her mother die? She had certainly earned her degree, but was this the freedom she sought? 

Joey shoved the sudden doubts and fears that popped up frequently into the back of her mind, telling herself that he is the best thing that ever happened to her. Her heart told her that she had felt so much more love than this before, but it had scared her away. Joey closed her eyes, leaned her head against the window and forced herself not to think of Pacey. 

Several hours later, Joey could almost hear her home calling her as the Mitsubishi thundered up Highway 138 toward Cape Cod. 

"I'm so excited to see Dawson…and for you to meet him too," Joey said as the sign for Highway 3 that led to Capeside flew by. "The minute we get there I wanna see him. If he's not at my house when we get there, we can row down the creek just a little ways to his house." 

"Oh, we can?" Will asked with uncertainty. 

"I told you about him." Joey glanced cautiously at Will who did not turn around to meet her eyes. "We have been best friends since we were practically toddlers. For several years, I was in love with him, but it was never meant to be. I think I still do love him and always will though." When Will glanced at Joey she was lost in the past. 

Suddenly the sports car screeched to a halt. Joey was pitched forward; her seat belt's resistance punched her in the chest, forcing all the air out of her lungs. 

****

Sanctuary Part Four 

By Shannon Kathleen 

MASSACHUSETTS HIGHWAY 3 

10 minutes from Capeside 

6:30 

Startled, Joey opened her eyes to see what had caused the car to come to a screeching halt on the highway. Will was staring at her as if to blame her for the car's actions. She looked around to see if they had hit something on the road. 

"What happened?" Joey asked in a shaky voice, looking around. 

It hit her suddenly that Will had intentionally slammed on the brakes while going 80 mph and swerved to the side of the road, causing a cold shill to tearing through her spine. 

"Would you prefer we get there in 3 hours because I can do that for you?" Will said as his car started down the highway at 10 miles an hour. His face was hard and cold. Joey knew this change all too well. His classic good looks seemed to morph into monstrous features. His brow seemed to furrow and jut out like a Neanderthal's. His mouth twisted downward into a tight thin-lipped frown. His eyes shone with pure hatred. 

"Why didn't you tell me he was coming," Will demanded. "Are you trying to keep something from me?" 

Fear ripped through Joey, causing her to shudder. But this time seemed to be different. She reached for the door handle, but she found it locked just as Will's car shot back into traffic this time at 95 miles per hour. 

"Will! Stop this!" 

Joey's first thought was that she shouldn't have mentioned Dawson. She had learned to refrain from mentioning other men in her life. As the car sped toward her hometown, Joey tried to gain confidence. What could he do to her here on the way to her own turf? Before she could speak, Will started in on one of his rants. Joey wanted to cover her ears, promising herself that this would be the last time. She let him talk and prayed Capeside would appear soon. 

"Why do you treat me this way?" Joey cried, interrupting him, not able to hold her silence any longer. "What do I do to make you so angry?" Joey tried to hold them back, but the tears started to flow. It was making her even angrier that she couldn't control them. Where was her strength? Why has it left her here alone? She decided it was time to fight back for the first time. She was tired of this part of their relationship. And she could hardly remember any other part. 

"Is it just my gender that you detest so much?" Joey spit her words at him in disgust. "I don't think I personally could have done anything to instigate this rage. Did your mother leave you with an ugly, mean, fairly-tale stepmother or did your first girlfriend decide she wanted more from her teen years, leaving you a bitter old man? What left you like this?" 

Will was startled by her sudden retaliation, but did not let her gain on his domination last long. Joey quickly turned toward the window, realizing that speaking her mind might be more dangerous than she thought. She breathed in to gain more strength despite her queasy stomach. Will's hand shot up and grabbed Joey in the jaw, turned her face to his and tightened his grip while maintaining his 95 mile-an-hour journey down Highway 3. 

Joey refused to meet him in the eyes though. With an imprisoned jaw, she looked to the side, while saying, " What could you have wanted with me? I'm a child compared to the others. I know I am not the only one." 

Will's grip tightened, forcing Joey's mouth open. "Well, you get some on the side from that Dawson guy, so why shouldn't I get what I want elsewhere." Will said. "If you really wanted us to work, you would've cut ties with your California director wannabe when I first mentioned it." 

"Are you crazy?" Joey cried. "You wanted me to turn my back on the best friend I ever had for some workaholic, womanizing, jackass with the libido of a 17-year-old boy with the mind of one too." She laughed in disgust. 

"Yeah, and I am taking a week out of my like to come visit this hick town teeming with your hick family and friends, because this is what all the young professional BACHELORS are doing. It's all about compromise." 

Will spit the word in her face and threw her back against the window, which was his final mistake. The adrenaline had begun to flow through Joey's veins and now with her face free from his grip, she knew it was time to strike back. Before he realized it, Joey had grabbed for the steering wheel, taking him off guard. Damaging the car was the only way Joey knew she could hurt Will emotionally and maybe end this ride from hell. Just one mile short of the Capeside sign that had always meant she was almost home, Joey's life would start to head in another direction. As she tugged on the wheel, the car started to spin into the other lane, barely missed a truck, and swerved onto the shoulder. Will kept elbowing Joey in the head, but she only let go of the wheel when he jabbed her in the eye with all of his strength. 

When the car came to a halt in the sparse wooded area along the highway, Joey was able to free herself from the seat belt, the car and the life she had lead for the last year. Tears of anger and pain, streamed from her eyes, one swelling shut. Joey's blurred vision allowed her to see a few cars pass her on the highway. Someone must have seen them veer off the highway and would stop to help her. Here she was in her hometown, during a time she had dreamed of returning with her head held high, and now all she wanted to do was run and hide. But after all of this, where could she go so that no one would know she was living through this hell. At least she was certain that Will was not going to crawl back for her forgiveness. This part of her life was ending. 

Will burst out of the car, but only to throw her large duffel bag and purse from the backseat. 

"I'm going to sue you for these damages," Will jumped back into the driver's seat and threw the car into gear. He imagined hurting her, but he figured scaring the life out of her would be just as fun too. She would know who had control in the end. 

Joey heard the car behind her, but her confusion and lack of clear eyesight did not allow her to react very quickly. Covering her injured eye, Joey started walking toward town or into the woods; she was not sure just yet where she wanted to end up. But she did not find refuge quick enough. Will gunned his car out of the brush straight for her. The car's fender clipped her leg and spun her small body around to face the hood. Before the car threw her to the ground, her stomach grazed the mirror and the side of her face hit the top of the doorframe. Even though he had just hit his girlfriend, Will thundered back on the four-lane highway in the direction opposite the one they had been traveling. 

Joey covered her head with her arms and struggled to get up from the ground when she was sure he was gone. Several cars had begun to stop along the shoulder to help the fallen young woman. A voice from her past cried her name as she struggled to get up. She tried to focus on the figure shading her from the pounding sun. Her injured eye and the dust from the road blinded her, but Joey felt she knew his touch. Joey forced her eye open to see what she thought was Pacey trying to hold her still. This must be a nightmare. I'm seeing ghosts from my past, she thought. Joey suddenly let out an exhaustive scream, letting go of all the pain she had been holding inside for years. She lay completely vulnerable on the ground outside her childhood hometown letting her old neighbors or strangers - she wasn't sure whom - comfort her in what she felt was the lowest point of her life. 

"Pacey…Pacey…help…he…he stole…he…took…me…no," she screamed incoherently over the sound of screeching breaks. 

Joey felt several people hold her down. Through her tears, Joey struggled to break away and stand on her own. When she could open her eyes again, she realized sensing Pacey must have been her imagination. He wasn't anywhere in sight. 

"I'm OK," Joey said with a shaky voice. "Please…let me go. My sister…my...." When she continued to lose the battle, Joey finally pleaded with her captors. "Call Dawson…call Bessie, please…please." 

****

CAPESIDE 

5 minutes earlier 

Pacey and Rachel silently sat side-by-side in his truck. She had called Pacey on his mobile phone to pick her up from a friend's. He was willing but irritated. 

"So, you're saying your gracious hosts just spiked the punch with a little bit of vodka, huh?" Pacey asked. "And you couldn't taste that there was something strange about this punch even when the sherbet started to boil at the top?" 

"There wasn't any sherbet." Rachel sputtered. 

Pacey looked at her, shook his head, and leaned it back against the seat. She could never pick up on his subtleties, he thought. Rachel just continued to look blankly at him. 

"Listen, I'm not going to have your parents start putting two and two together that your breath always smells like this when you are with me. I'll drop you off at the curb." 

When she did not answer him again, he decided to drop the subject. 

Suddenly Pacey gripped the steering wheel, as a car in the opposite lane threatened to pull into his lane. Before he had time to swerve his truck, the car careened across the lanes and into the wooded area off of the shoulder. Pacey looked around and realized it was his duty to go back and see if the driver needed help. Out of his rearview mirror, he saw a dark-haired young woman run from the car toward the highway. Was she hurt, he wondered? He hoped that he and the drunken girl beside him had not stumbled across too serious an accident. 

What he saw next pulled all of the air out of his lungs. His truck thundered back to the scene just as the red sports car struck the girl and knocked her to the ground. His subconscious told him he recognized the girl. Was his mind playing tricks on him? He had just seen her in New York, but Pacey would swear he had just seen Joey struck by the angry car. His trunk screeched to a halt as the red car pulled out in front of him. Pacey jumped down from the truck, shouting at Rachel to call 911. Other cars from both lanes started to slam on their breaks and pull over after seeing the hit-and-run. 

He knew the body; he knew the hair. He recognized her even though she lay face down on the ground. 

Pacey dropped to his knees just as she turned her dirt-streaked face up to him. Pacey bit hard down on his bottom lips as he cried her name softly. "Jo? Oh, no Jo" He whispered as he supported her back gently while she struggled to get up. Pacey pulled down his hat, hoping to conceal his eyes. He knew she didn't need to see him here and now. But she did seem to pull his face into focus. Pacey recognized sheer terror crawl into her eyes, and she started to scream in a voice filled with desperation Pacey had never heard before. Did he just imagine her calling his name? 

Realizing that other people were running to his side to restrict her movement, Pacey backed away from her and jumped back in his truck. He peeled out from the shoulder to hunt down the red car. Pulling his cell out of his back pocket, he shouted at Rachel to quiet her screams. He dialed directly to his brother, Doug, who was a deputy under their father since he graduated from the police academy. When Doug answered, Pacey exhaled a small prayer. 

"Doug, if you have to take me seriously only once in your life, this'll be the moment," Pacey pleaded, sounding like a younger brother for the first time in a few years. "I just witnessed someone hit by a car. The asshole is on the run, driving a Mitsubishi 3000GT, I think. I'm gaining on him down Highway 3 going south. 

Doug, who had been a mile away in downtown, turned on the siren with the words "someone hit," and sped in his brother's direction. 

"Pacey please slow down, and don't chase this guy," Doug yelled into the phone, only to receive his brother's voice promising to get the license plate, deaf to anything Doug had said. 

About 10 minutes passed as Pacey caught up with Will, who seemed to have no idea he was being followed. Just as he was gaining the nerve to hit the sports car, Pacey heard the sirens in the distance. He demurred and pulled over to the side of the road. A bewildered, terrified Rachel watched as he tried to hide the sobs that shook his entire body. 

Rachel, although very confused, knew she had never seen so much emotion come from her boyfriend since she met him, and it sobered her up quickly. She walked with him back into his apartment, where he started to act like nothing had happened. Rachel lay down beside him in the neatly-made bed until he dozed off. The events of the day still replayed in her mind. What had made her boyfriend react like that? Rachel slithered off of the bed, so not to disturb Pacey. She wandered to the living room and fell on the couch Pacey had purchased from his parents when he moved out two years ago. Rachel laid her head in her hands. It was pounding from the mixture of the earlier party indulgence and the event she had witnessed. Rachel tried to close her eyes but the scene kept replaying. While picking up a magazine off of the second hand coffee table, Rachel uncovered a leather-covered keepsake box that she had never seen before, but it didn't look brand new to her. The box top was sitting atop the box, but ajar. Suddenly her headache was a distant memory and her curiosity was piqued. Glancing in Pacey's bedroom to find him sleeping, she opened the box slowly. 

For the next couple hours, Rachel invaded Pacey's privacy as he slept, discovering things she had never known about her boyfriend. Before she finally left, she glanced in on him for what she was sure was the last time as his girlfriend. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but a storm was brewing in Rachel, and she was preparing to let go of the first heavy flood. 

****

POTTER BED AND BREAKFAST 

7:20 

Some of the guests had begun to arrive and made their way down to the creek where Bessie had set up a small dance floor adorned by strings of lights in the trees. The appetizers were served and the music was luring guests to the tables. Bessie looked out toward her guests as she finished preparing another pitcher of daiquiris. Where was Dawson? She expected that Joey might be late, but Dawson promised to be there before the others arrived. Thankfully, Jen and Andie had begun to mingle with the guests. 

As Bessie stepped onto the back porch, her heart skipped a beat to see Gale Leery running up from the creekside toward Bodie. Frantically, Gale told Bodie something that made him reach up to cover his mouth and then to stroke his forehead. They both turned to see her standing on the porch, and from the looks on their faces, Bessie's instinct told her to drop the pitcher she held and run from them all of a sudden. 

****

MASSACHUSETTS HIGHWAY 

7:00 

Dawson tore the car across the two opposite lanes of the highway, looking for a sign of his best friend in the crowd surrounding the ambulance. He let out a ragged breath when he saw her leaning on the edge of the ambulance, one of her hands balancing on her knee. Her tiny bent body was heaving up and down. Joey was covering one of her eyes, but the other one looked swollen and red. Her flushed face was streaked with dirt and tears. An EMT looked like he was taking her vitals and cleaning her wounds. What confused him was that it did not look like a car accident. None of the cars surrounding the ambulance looked like they had been impacted. 

Dawson jumped out of his parent's sports utility vehicle and raced toward her. Running through the crowd, he suddenly faltered 10 feet in front of her. He had been feeling her pain the entire ride, but when he saw her up close, it hit like a punch in the abdomen. He slowly walked the rest of the way to her side. 

"What happened, Joey?" Dawson reached out for somewhere on her body that was not sore or bloody. Deciding on the back of her head, Dawson ran his fingers through her dark hair, pulling out the shreds of grass. Joey said nothing but allowed Dawson's gesture to comfort her. 

She pushed away an EMT, who was trying to convince her to lie down on the stretcher and get her to take her hand away from her injured eye. 

"OK, I'm here and Bessie's coming." Dawson whispered. "Everything's going to be OK." 

The entire scene confused Dawson. Where was her boyfriend? Why were the police pulling up? Why weren't the paramedics taking her to the hospital? 

Dawson bent onto his knees to look into Joey's pasty-white face covered with dirt and abrasions. "Where is Will?" Dawson whispered urgently. 

Joey looked down at him with a hateful expression like he was to blame for Will's whereabouts as she started to breathe shallowly. 

"Please tell me what happened?" 

"I can't tell you." Joey raised her voice suddenly. "No…never…you'll be disappointed in me." 

Dawson breathed easier to hear Joey's voice. It had not changed, but what she was saying wasn't clear. 

"What? Joey, you aren't making any sense." Dawson stood up and held his forehead in his hand. He felt helpless and he knew she needed it. 

"Just tell me what hurt you. Did Will hurt you…what did he do?" 

"He did this to me." Joey began to shake with what seem to Dawson like rage. "No…No, I did this to myself. I let him destroy me. What am I going to do? What have I become?" 

Joey looked up at him as if she suddenly didn't recognize him. 

Dawson let a whimper escape his throat as Joey suddenly fell forward against him heavily as if she had wanted to run, but her feet had failed her. 

"Help me! What is the problem here with this bureaucracy?" Dawson shouted to the police and paramedics, who seemed to be filing out paperwork, as he supported her limp body. 

"Something's wrong… my friend…help…I think she is in shock. She needs a hospital." 

****

To Be Continued.... 


	3. Sanctuary Part 5 &6

****

Sanctuary Part Five 

By Shannon Kathleen 

POTTER BED AND BREAKFAST 

Midnight three days later 

Bessie helped her little sister out of the truck. It was nearly midnight when the reunited family finally made it home as the night sky threatened to pour down on Capeside. Joey had been released from Capeside Medical Center, but spent the entire evening at the police station. At first Joey tried to convince Doug to drop the charges on Will. She was certain that it he had not meant to kill her, and that it was only a small domestic assault, but Doug acted like he wanted to see Will in jail permanently. 

"Joey, he did this to you on the highway in front of God and the rest of the world," Doug said while tightening his jaw. "He was cocky and felt such possession of you that he felt he could do this and get away with it." 

Joey glared back at him. During high school, she had come to trust her ex-boyfriend's brother. He had also come to see her as a little sister, and she could tell he had missed her. He was just too close to.... Pacey could never see her like this, she swore. 

"Doug, what are you trying to do?" Joey bit her lower lip to control her anger. "I just want to drop this. I don't want anyone to know this was not just some simple accident everyone has once in their life." 

Joey raised her arm to lightly touch her bruised cheek, a new habit she had started, and glanced at the bandages running up and down her arm. 

"Doug, I just arrived home, and you are going to give this town something more to talk about behind my back. These marks on my body will disappear one day, please, just let them disappear." 

Bessie looked at her quiet sister, remembering Doug's disappointed look. She could read the disgrace and shame on her sister's face even from the dark truck. 

"We're home now." Bessie comforted Joey. "Your old bed has been waiting for you. Sure, it might have been serving as an additional guest room, but it's yours for as long as you would like it." 

Joey pushed the emotions accompanying her return home into the back of her mind at least for the night as she slipped under the covers. While in the hospital, she had had vivid dreams of Pacey freeing her from the nightmare she would wake up to again in the morning. His memory that had always haunted her now suddenly began to comfort her. She could feel him, almost smell him, and feel his touch just by coming home. As the pain settled, Joey began to doze when the sound of her door creaking startled her. 

"Joey, it's just me." She recognized Dawson's voice. 

"Dawson?" Joey said as she sat up to smile in his direction, ignoring her sore muscles. She knew he had been terrified, but he had been right by her side these past few days. "Can I stay here with you tonight?" Dawson asked quietly. 

"Are you scared of the thunder?" Joey teased. 

"Yeah, something like that," Dawson said under his breath. 

With the knowledge that she was safe and alive, Dawson fell asleep in the small sofa next to her bed. Joey turned away from him and wondered if Pacey was still in Capeside. 

****

CAPESIDE POLICE DEPARTMENT 

The next morning 

Pacey took one last swig of his black coffee, threw the Styrofoam cup in the recycle bin and lay his head down in his folded arms on his brother's desk. 

"So, you knew it was her," Doug came into the room and dropped several file folders on his desk, startling the dozing Pacey. 

"I could just tell," Pacey said lethargically. 

Doug shook his head, recognizing his younger brother's pain. Doug had watched Pacey move from his contemptuous younger brother to a man anxious to make something of his life and overcome the obstacles in his past, which was the reason Pacey's actions at the accident bothered him. 

"I just couldn't stay because I was scaring her. She went hysterical when she saw me. There were others helping her though." Pacey said, looking up and sniffing slowly. "I saw everything though. His only accident was doing it in front of me. I don't know if he seriously wanted to debilitate her, but he wanted to hit her. I'm completely sure of that. He cocked his Mitsubishi, took aim and made no attempt to miss her at the last minute." 

Doug nodded as he mused over Pacey's story. 

"Something happened inside the car before because it suddenly swerved in my lane, and I was going the opposite way." Pacey replayed the entire scene to Doug. 

"Well, she wants to drop the charges." Doug said regretfully. 

****

POTTER BED AND BREAKFAST 

Two days later 3:30 

Bessie watched from the kitchen window as her sister slowly limped to the dock where the family boat had been docked since she was born. Joey had not moved much all day, so her sudden migration had caught Bessie's attention especially after the fidgety blonde teenager, who had been talking to Joey, had left running from their backyard. 

Bessie remembered that earlier that morning, Joey had looked out the backdoor and squinted as the bright sun hit her in the face for the first time since she came home from New York. Her childhood home had become a safe haven as she healed. Bessie just watched her walk without a word out into the backyard, where she laid in a lawn chair all morning. Anna and Alex had kept her company as she watched them play on the swing set that Bodie had recently built, but even they were beginning to notice something strange about their aunt. 

Joey was not giving many clues to her feelings. Bessie had accidentally overheard a telephone conversation Joey had had yesterday with Andie, which made Bessie think Joey might be having more troubles than she knew. "Have I received any messages? 

Well, does anyone call for me? 

Oh, OK, Andie I'll call again in a few days. 

No, well…I don't know when I am going to be ready to come back." 

"Listen…just please look out for any word from those companies. 

Yes...I know I'll keep looking. 

Yes…I'm feeling fine. 

If you want to come up next weekend, that's fine, but you don't need to feel like you have to. 

I know, yes, I know. OK, talk to you later. 

Bye." 

Was that depression she detected in her sister's voice? If not, it was at least disappointment. 

As Joey headed to the rowboat, Bessie hesitated about whether to be worried. She wanted to be that guardian she had been since Joey was in junior high school. She wanted to run after her to ask her when she was going to be home, where she was going and maybe if she could go with her too. But Bessie had to relinquish that role in Joey's life. She was now her sister, who could still watch over her, but from a distance. 

Bessie walked out to the lawn chair about an hour after Joey disappeared down the creek. She must have taken her drawing pad because Bessie was sure she had seen her with it earlier. She prayed Joey had started to draw again. Bessie noticed a crumpled piece of paper lying next to the chair. She pulled it open to see the exact scene, Joey had painted on a wall in town years ago. 

The painting had captured Joey's hopes, dreams and desires five years ago. What a revelation for Joey, Bessie remembered. She opened her life to the public and let them see her future. It now lay on the ground in a crumpled heap a little bit like she had several days ago. A few feet away, Bessie stooped to pick up a strange leather box and some of its strewn contents. A bewildered Bessie looked toward the dock, instinctively praying the little rowboat would make it back to the dock safely as it had for some many years. 

****

DOWNTOWN CAPESIDE 

Earlier that same day 

Dawson felt miserable as he threw his bag into the backseat of his parents' SUV. Joey needed him the most right now and he was choosing his career over his best friend. She had forced him out of her house to catch his flight back to LA, he reminded himself. She had insisted his internship was more important. 

As he drove the car down Capeside's town center to meet his parents at their restaurant, Dawson's heart beat fast and he knew he could not avoid glancing over at Joey's huge thumbprint left on Capeside years ago. The town had turned the abandoned lot with her painting into a small garden plaza with a gazebo, a fishpond and a small fountain. 

This time he was compelled to stop. Dawson slowly got out of the car and breathed in the meaning in her art. But this time, Dawson looked at the large gulls, Joey had painted soaring over a lazy creek into the free sky, and he noticed that they looked different. He had always know this was Joey's symbol of the freedom she was gaining from this place, but now he was not sure if it looked like the birds were actually _leaving_ the Creek. It almost looked like they were arriving at their summer destination after a long hard winter migration…as if they were coming home. 

As he turned, he glanced back and noticed a single red rose under the painting. The card was addressed to Joey, "Get Well Soon," it said. Someone must have left it here after reading the story in the newspaper about the accident. Then he noticed another small bouquet with the same sediment. 

Dawson jumped back in his car and pulled into the Capeside Marina. Running down onto the docks, Dawson noticed Pacey tying up a boat that he had just gassed up. 

"Pacey," Dawson shouted, running toward him. 

"Hey, man," Pacey half-smiled as he extended his hand to his friend. "What are you doing down here this early? I thought you decided against "the three-hour tour." 

When Pacey noticed Dawson's creased forehead and firm-set mouth, he instantly started to worry. He knew that look. Pacey searched his mind to recollect what had could have done wrong this time. 

"I have to tell you… I've been holding this in too long. Joey just graduated from college last weekend. I figured you would be hurt if you were not invited, so I did not tell you." Dawson said. 

"Man, Joey and I've not spoken in years." Pacey turned to face Dawson. "Why would that hurt my feelings?" 

"Pacey, the reason I didn't go out on the boat with you yesterday was 'cause I have been worried about Joey." 

Pacey shook his head violently. 

"No, no, man, not another favor to look after Joey for you…no not that again." 

"I don't know if you heard, but she was in an accident on her way home Saturday." 

Pacey could not pretend to be surprised or upset as Dawson revealed more about Joey's shameful experience than the newspapers did. All Pacey could think to do was nod solemnly ignoring his nausea, which was not the reaction Dawson expected. 

"What has happened to you, Pacey?" Dawson ranted. 

"What do you mean," Pacey instantly pulled back to put up the defense. Pacey found it hard to swallow all of a sudden. He remained quiet to let Dawson finish. 

"You could care less about any of us, it seems. What did Joey do to you for you to punish her and us like this?" 

"It's so like you, Dawson, to think about your place in my relationship with Joey," Pacey turned away. 

Dawson hesitated as Pacey turned to tie up the next boat pulling into the dock. 

"We're best friends then," Dawson shouted after him. "Look what's happened since we have left. It might be the rest of the world's fault or it could be just us acting like imbeciles, but something needs to change before we all become victims like Joey." 

"Oh, like you have so much experience in the victim department," Pacey said slowly as he stared at Dawson. 

"Well, I can see that the world is crappy out there," Dawson spouted. "We did not know how good we had it here." 

"Well, hombre, this is where you get the answer to the question you asked earlier about what happened to us," Pacey hopped back up on the deck where Dawson stood. "You've gotten the chance to see how crappy the world is out there. I'm still in the same chapter of my life when we graduated from high school." 

Dawson did not know how to respond and just let his shoulders sag as he exhaled. 

"Joey would've left me and started the new chapter in her life." Pacey exhaled too. "I would always be one chapter behind." 

"That does not seem like you, Pace," Dawson looked into his face. "So, you gave up on her without a fight. You were thinking of how this would hurt you in the long run and started to curl up in a fetal position to protect yourself." 

Pacey maintained eye contact with Dawson threateningly, but Dawson kept talking. 

"It must not have been true love because you wouldn't have been worried about your own feelings." 

Pacey surrendered and looked to the ground. His heart was on fire with anger and intense regret. 

"And now after telling you about Joey's accident, you don't seem to care that she has been through hell in a time she was suppose to finally reach her goals." 

"You don't even know what you are talking about." Pacey looked up, his anger showing through his eyes. "Dawson, I had to let her go. Yeah, she said 'no' when I asked her to marry me, and then I have to watch as she would rather have someone kick her in the ass. Yeah, I got a front row seat." 

****

POTTER BED & BREAKFAST 

3:15 p.m. Same day 

Rachel dropped Pacey's box in the passenger seat of her Acura Integra. She remembered this infamous Josephine Potter for sure now. She was the girl who painted the wall on Second Street several years ago that now had become a permanent part of Capeside's eyesore collection, Rachel thought bitterly. According to her older sister, Joey's family owned the Potter B&B on the north side of town, and she was going to see for herself if Joey knew that her boyfriend was still in love with her. 

Rachel followed the map she found in the Capeside Chamber of Commerce to the Potter B&B as she remembered watching the girl working on her painting every afternoon for several months. She became a regular sight for Capesiders on their way to the marina. The town had spent a long time wondering what she would create. Rachel and her other seventh-grade friends would make bets. Rachel felt betrayed that Pacey had never told her that he had initiated the birth of the wall. In some way, it had been Pacey's and Joey's first child, Rachel said in disgust to herself. 

When Rachel pulled into the parking lot around the back of the house, she almost instantly pulled away, but she would have still felt this rage inside. What did she have to lose anyway, she asked herself again. Rachel recognized the girl from Pacey's photos sitting in the sun in a chaise lounge with her head limp and falling onto her shoulder, her eyes hidden behind dark glasses. She noticed the cast on her wrist, but did not give it a second thought. Rachel crept up half hoping not to startle her and half enjoying the temporary power she had over this vulnerable woman because when she awoke, Rachel knew Joey would have all the power. Rachel glanced down at the tattered drawing pad that dangled on the edge of her knee open to sketches of birds in flight. 

Joey woke from her doze with a start, feeling the presence of someone standing near her. When she realized her instincts were right, Joey jumped so high she flew off the chair and landed on her back on the other side. Thankfully, she landed on her good hip. 

"Oh no…oh my God." Rachel dropped Pacey's box and ran over to the other side of the chair to help Joey up. Joey just moaned and resisted help from Rachel in getting up. 

"I'm so sorry for disturbing you," Rachel suddenly lost her nerve and began to stutter. "Are you all right?" 

Joey looked up, trying to recognize the young blonde teenager as the sun shone in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm just a little jumpy, but please just keep this to yourself. I need to protect my reputation. You know…as a woman with one ounce of grace." 

Rachel smiled in relief at her dry humor. 

"Can I help you with something?" Joey wrinkled her forehead, still not able to place the girl who had walked into her backyard. "Are you a guest? My sister's in the kitchen if you need…" 

Rachel laughed with embarrassment and stood up from where she had been kneeling to help Joey. "Oh, no…no..." She turned away quickly to clean up the contents of the box she had spilled when Joey fell. 

"What…what're you doing with that?" Joey suddenly jumped up from the lounge chair and demanded of the kneeling girl, who fell back on her heels. "That's my drawing…of Pacey. What's all this?" Joey began to tremble with confusion as she sifted through the private letters in her own handwriting. 

"Who are you?" Joey looked up, her brow furrowed, her mouth in a scowl. "Come back, please, and tell me where you got these things." She demanded as the blonde turned around and ran from the Potter's backyard. Rachel suddenly connected this girl, Joey, to the girl lying on the side of the road and she remembered Pacey's sudden burst of emotions after the accident a few days ago. Realizing she had been in the dark about too many things, she suddenly bean to feel guilty about her violation of Pacey. But she knew that she had suddenly become an important part in this girl Joey's life and finally, for the first time, an important part in Pacey's. 

****

To be continued... 

****

Sanctuary Part Six 

By Shannon Kathleen 

CAPESIDE MARINA 

10:30 a.m. Rewinding the same day 

"Yeah, she said 'no' when I asked her to marry me, and then I have to watch as she would rather have someone kick her in the ass. Yeah, I got a front row seat." 

Dawson's mouth jerked open, and he stepped back shocked by his outburst. Pacey started to take it back as soon as he let it slip from his mouth, but Dawson interrupted. 

"You saw...you were there…and you left her there…to die?" Dawson found it hard to look at his friend. 

"Dawson, please, I was not the only one there." Pacey shook his head, begging him to understand. "I did the only thing I knew I could do. I **will not**…I refuse to be the bad guy in this story." 

"Oh, and also when did you ask her to marry you…at 18? Why then were you surprised that she said 'no'? I guess you didn't know Joey very well." Dawson scoffed. 

"I guess I shouldn't have told you about that right now." 

Dawson still looked at him as if he expected an explanation for the secret both his friends had been keeping from him. 

"To clear this up…before she left, I asked her to marry me. I guess it would have been this summer. It was a stupid move…I just wanted to give her…a part of me she could take with her…until I could catch up…" 

Dawson just stared at him as his words trailed off. 

"I suddenly became enemy number one in her eyes as if I was trying to take away her chances of leaving this town." Pacey turned back suddenly remembering her lying on the side of the road. 

"Oh, God, Dawson, you don't know how much I wanted to pick her up off of the ground, put her back on her feet and feel her suddenly give me the Potter right hook for saying or doing something typically wrong." Pacey groaned. "I just make bad decisions… But she chose someone who almost killed her in the end and that makes me angry…angry at her, at the world and life in general." 

Dawson wondered if things would ever be right between the people he loved. He wanted Joey to stop hurting. He just learned now how Pacey has been hurting for years too. He wanted things back to normal, but his idea of normal was childhood, which he could never return. 

****

POTTER BED & BREAKFAST 

3:30 p.m. 

On her hand and knees, Joey crawled to save some of the letters and drawings that had started to blow away from her grasp toward the water's edge. She fell helplessly as pieces of her past started to fly away. 

"He saved me," Joey whispered to herself as she stared down at photos he had taken the year they spent together. "He preserved who I once was." 

Joey closed her eyes tightly when she noticed the small black jewelry box, and she avoided opening it. She traced her finger over the small sandwich bag of sand and seashells they had gathered from Florida when they first fell in love. He kept all of the sketches he had done on their trip down the coast that she was sure she had thrown away. 

Even though, Joey had given Pacey most of the things in the box, she felt she was invading his privacy by seeing them again. Joey tried to gather most of Pacey's memories and put them back, but her entire body had begun to shake uncontrollably. She forced herself up to walk away as she tried to gain composure. She limped down to the dock and into her rowboat. Her feet knew her usual route to Dawson's when she felt overwhelmed like this even after all these years. But he was gone now. She was left to face this on her own. 

Her only real North Star had been to get out of Capeside. 'Where do I go now?' she asked looking upward for the answer. 

"So, this who I am?" Joey looked back at her house as she sat down in her boat. "And this is all I know?" 

Joey realized she was clinging to a small newspaper clipping from the box in her balled-up fist. She had unconsciously rescued it from the dock right before it flew into the water. Letting her rowboat drift, she took a closer look. It was a mundane Capeside City Council story from last October. But a small photo of her wall mural caught her attention amidst the gray story of the city's plan to move the Capeside historical society into an abandoned building downtown. 

> "Capeside Yacht Club manager Pacey Witter has agreed to donate his share of 215 Second Street - the left wall - to the City of Capeside. Witter finally bought the rights to the wall in 2003 from the current owner, after leasing it since 2000 to preserve a mural, painted while the building was vacant. His primary request last night was for a promise in return never destroy the painting or the ownership would automatically revert back to him. He also asked for the city to improve and maintain the lot around the wall and the actual painting with Capeside City Beatification money. 

My wall, Joey mused. Well, no it was Pacey's wall now, knowing she had abandoned it years ago. She suddenly realized that she had walked away from everything in this town, everything that she was ashamed to be…and he continued preserved it all with pride, maybe in case she ever came looking for that girl again. Had that time come already? 

****

ACROSS TOWN 

6:30 p.m. 

Pacey wanted to drive by the Potter Bed and Breakfast this evening…just to face her for the first time in years. This wasn't the first time he had had to control this urge. His thoughts kept replaying what Dawson had said that morning. How could he and Dawson reclaim what they had as friends? He doubted that would ever happen. Everyone had some kind of personal vendetta against him. 

Pacey threw down his mail on his dining room table next to the open letter from Boston University and flopped into his chair. One envelope caught his eye right away. The return address was marked Professional Photographers Association. Knowing it was too heavy to be a rejection letter, Pacey tore into it. 

> Dear Mr. Witter, 

> We would like to congratulate you for being selected as our second place winner in our student photographic competition. 

> Enclosed please find a proof of the magazine pages where a selection of your portfolio will be published in a future issue of Photography Today… 

> You have been invited to attend the annual PPA gala to honor your photography. At that time you will be awarded with your $8,000 scholarship from the PPA Educational Fund. 

Pacey dropped the letter, let out a small yelp and searched for the proof in the envelope. His throat tightened up and his heart pulsated rapidly. Two-page spreads of his own work stared him back in the face. He blinked back hot tears and his throat had dried up completely, so he could barely swallow. 

Pacey had chosen to send in the pictures that he had taken one weekend when he had been studying the kids who had taken Dawson, Joey and his place as regulars to the Capeside Public Park. The largest picture in the magazine spread had been his favorite too. Pacey watched a little girl dare the her two male playmates that she could beat them in a contest on the swings. Pacey caught the three of them at just the moment when the fair-haired little girl let go of the swing and flew into the air, capturing the boys' surprised, unconcealed admiration and her brave, fearless spirit all in one shot. 

He called the photograph "Fearless: How I Remember Joey." 

He knew he had to give her this picture that she had inspired him to take. An ecstatic Pacey ran out the front door of his apartment, stopping to jump up and swat the front porch light in a macho gesture of victory. This time he hit it so hard, it crashed down on his head as his feet finally touched the ground. He covered his mouth in shock at the shattered glass light fixture on the ground and started to laugh out loud. Leaving the mess for later, Pacey raced to his truck. He was not afraid of Joey, Dawson or anyone anymore. 

****

POTTER BED & BREAKFAST 

7:25 p.m. 

Pacey slowly walked to Joey's front door. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and cleared his throat before knocking. Bessie answered anxiously at his first small knock. He was still flying too high to realize the awkwardness of his visit. 

"Pacey," Bessie jumped back at the sight of him. She seemed worried and confused to see a face from the past. "What year is it?" 

Pacey chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry…um…I guess I've not come around much. I'm sorry for that…" Pacey cleared his throat and looked down at his feet. 

"Well, I know you didn't come to see me," Bessie looked at the flowers in his hand. 

"Well, I just wanted to drop these…" 

"Pacey, she's not here…I don't know where she is either," Bessie, forehead creased, summoned him into the foyer. "She hasn't left the house since she came home from New York… you probably heard about the accident…but earlier this afternoon she went for a trip down the creek and hasn't come home yet. That was HOURS ago." 

"She took the boat," Bessie continued. 

Pacey was halfway to the door before she finished the last sentence, dropping his flowers on the porch steps as he ran to his truck. He traveled to Dawson's home in five short minutes, where Pacey found Dawson's old rowboat with a small motor tied securely to the dock. 

****

TWO MILES DOWN THE CREEK 

6:00 p.m. 

Trying to control her pounding head, Joey leaned against the sternum of the boat and closed her sore eyes, letting her arm trail through the cool water. She just kept hearing over and over in her mind how much of a failure she had become. Joey had finally begun to accept that she had lead herself to this low point in her life. Her doctor had noticed her lethargy after she had recovered from her shock episode and had forced her an anti-depressant prescription. So maybe it was the medication, but she was starting to feel secure in the very place she had been running from for years. 

She knew she had never been true to herself, always fighting some false fear that her life was going to follow the Potter legacy. 

Now Joey looked down at the blank sketchpad that she had been carrying around for months. She had been hiding from others that she had loss all desire to draw. So much for dreams and doing anything to achieve them, she thought. In a sudden moment of abandonment, Joey tossed it over the side of the boat. 

Her boat continued to drift down her creek as if the years had not passed, a small voice inside telling her it was time to accept her true self and come home. Joey closed her eyes, but this time she did not want to struggle to open them again. As the darkness surrounded her only a second seemed to pass when she felt a sudden jerk as she suddenly lost control of her unconscious paradise. 

****

8:15 p.m. 

Pacey had been scouring the creek from Dawson's house to the B&B for almost 30 minutes, when he heard the motor sputtering on the small boat. 

"Witter, gas would have helped on this little mission," he scolded himself with words Joey might have used at one time. 

Getting out the oars, Pacey realized that the silence of the creek allowed him to hear his own thoughts again, which he had been trying to ignore. His short burst of confidence after receiving the mail was slowly seeping through his skin, and he was starting to shake again. 

What could he do to help her? Why was he suddenly forcing himself on her again? Is she still the same? Would she recognize him? 

Pacey squinted his eyes to see a small boat drifting in the horizon. Dusk had almost passed, making it hard for him to see. Pacey tried to row faster. As he neared the boat, he noticed an arm hanging over the side of the boat. He suddenly felt like he was trapped in a nightmare, where he could not move his waterlogged feet. 

"Jo?" Pacey called out, forgetting about his fear of seeing her again. "Jo? Is that you?" 

Pacey felt helpless and imprisoned in his slow-moving boat. In an act of desperation, Pacey slipped off his running shoes and dived right into the dark water. Using all of his strength, he swam to what he was sure was the Potter's boat. Pacey was terrified that even with all the noise he was making, the pale arm he used as his North Star had not moved and he noticed a head resting against the sternum. 

"Joey…Jo" Pacey sputtered her name as he gulped for air. 

Pacey finally reached out and grabbed her with one arm and the side of the boat with his other. With his adrenaline peaking, he did not realize his strength. To Pacey's shock, the boat almost flipped upside down. Joey was jolted awake and hung on tight to the side before she had the chance to make any noise. Her feet kicked at the water as if she was trying to push herself back down. The boat flopped back down in its proper position, knocking Pacey underwater for a moment and Joey to the floor of the boat. 

Stunned, Joey crept to the side, only letting the top of her head peek over the edge enough to see. She screamed when Pacey's dark figure burst to the surface. Grabbing hold of one of her oars, Joey started swinging into the unknown. Her blind aim was perfect. Joey felt and heard the thud as her oar hit Pacey on the side of his head. 

A dazed Pacey allowed his body to float as his eyes focused on Joey was rowing away quickly. Pacey tried to call out to her. 

"Jo," Pacey voiced cracked in his throat. "JO! Joey, it is me." 

He could see her stop at the sound of his voice and turn around slowly as if expecting a ghost to be breathing down her neck. She struggled to see into the dark water. 

With uncertainty, Joey mouthed his name, only letting a whisper out, "Pacey?" 

"Joey, it's me…Pacey," She could hear him treading the water. 

Clumsily, Joey quickly turned around in the boat to row back to him. Dropping the oars on the floor, she leaned over the edge to reach out for him. Her trembling hand finally met his trembling hand. This was not the way Joey ever imagined meeting Pacey again. 

As Joey's heart settled down, her strength seemed escalated. Although her arms were covered in lacerations and bruises and her left arm was in a cast, she let him grab onto her forearm to pull him up into her boat. 

The boat rocked on its side and started to fill up with water as Pacey slid aboard, sending Joey to the water-filled floor again. A few moments passed as she stared at her former love laying on the other side of the boat. The only thing she could think to say was, "Did I hurt you?" 

She did not realize what a loaded question that was. How fitting for being the first thing she said to him in four years, he thought. And he definitely had an answer for her. 

"Ah, no," Pacey smiled at her shyly, ignoring the fact that one part of his face felt numb. "I deserved that. I was just having a Prince Charming complex for a minute there." 

Joey looked down, realizing that they had been sitting in 6 inches of water. Using her good arm, Joey pulled herself onto the boat's seat. 

"Pacey," Joey suddenly registered the events of the last five minutes with annoyance. "Where in the world did you come from? And what are you doing here?" 

As Pacey pulled himself up to sit across from her, he let out a nervous chuckle. Pacey almost felt comfortable knowing he would have to be subjected to the Potter wrath for awhile. He had been dreaming about it for such a long time. 

"Well, I was taking a swim..." 

"Pacey!" 

"OK, well, I was just researching a strange fish that you can only see in the dark and has been sighted in this creek – you know, I have taken up marine biology – and your boat happened along…" 

"Pacey!" 

He looked at her as she bit her lip struggling not to laugh. Of course, she knew that he had been looking for her. 

"It's true, now please row me to the edge," Pacey requested. "I am now on the hunt for a runaway boat. If I don't find it, I owe the Leery's a new one." 

Pacey scanned the water for some sign of the boat he abandoned. 

"OK, at your service," Joey reached for the oars, her sarcasm budding again. 

As she started to row, she looked at her old friend, who tried to maintain his dignity although soaked from head to toe. A smile slowly crept up on her face, which caught Pacey's attention. It was the same crooked smile he remembered so well. 

"Too bad Dawson's gone," Joey laughed awkwardly. "We finally got the scene right. You actually are a creature from the deep, and I actually thought you were going to take my head off." 

Pacey smiled back, trying to look past Joey's damaged face. Although it still made him angry with her, it hurt him to see her so broken, inside and out. He could not imagine how anyone could do that to her single-handedly. 

"Well, the Capeside town crier said **you** just graduated from college," Pacey's voice broke the silence. "Congratulations." 

His mention of current events suddenly dragged Joey back into the present day. She had forgotten about her black, swollen eye, the cast and the random bruises and lacerations covering her arms and legs. She reached up to conceal her forehead quickly. Of course, the darkness of the creek helped too, but she was startled that he had not questioned or even flinched at her face. 

"Um, yeah…thanks." Joey said suddenly slipping away, not able to look into his eyes again. She shrugged and her hand ran down from her forehead to tuck her hair behind her ear. 

Joey pulled her boat along a dock near Dawson's old home. 

"Well, is this your stop?" Joey asked. 

Pacey made a move to step up onto the dock. 

"Wait, did you need help finding the boat?" 

Pacey looked down at her. 

"Nah, listen, sorry about all of this…" Pacey turned away and hoped up on the dock. 

Joey watched him walk away. Although he was shoeless, he still tried to walk as if he had not one care in the world. 

"Pace…Pacey," Joey called, standing up in the boat. 

Before he turned around, Pacey breathed in deeply and exhaled, which gave him a little confidence, and his lips turned up at the corners for a split second. 

"Uh," Joey hesitated when she finally got his attention. "I've been meaning to…" 

Joey stopped to study her hands as if they might give her the lines she needed to say. 

"I have been meaning to tell you something…well, ask you or tell you…" 

Pacey walked back down the dock and sat at the edge letting his feet dangle over the edge. 

Joey licked her lips and reached for her hair again as she pulled herself up from the boat to sit next to him on the dock. 

"Pacey…" In a moment of true bravery, she looked right into his blue eyes. "Have you…um, forgiven me?" 

Pacey tilted his head and wrinkled his brow. 

"What? I don't know what you…well, it was not like…" Pacey babbled unexpectedly. 

"Pacey, I'm being very brave, right now," Joey said. "But I need to know if… you are…just pretending to have forgiven me for…turning my back on you." 

"Well, you were a little harsh the last time I saw you, and I don't ever remember you asking for forgiveness," Pacey finally gained control of his thoughts. 

When he saw her eyes fall toward the water again, he tried to recover from his last choice of words. 

"You know…time goes by. I don't even remember…" 

He was not helping matters. 

"My wall…Pacey," Joey said in a deep whisper, glancing up at him in awe. 

Pacey nodded proudly, knowing this was her way of thanking him. 

Joey twisted her hand around her cast nervously. "I just thought that you and I…might be…or there could be a chance…maybe we could be friends again." 

As the words came out of her mouth, Pacey lost the control he had on his cool demeanor. Joey watched him bite his lip; a troubled look sneaked up in his eyes. She wished she could take back her words. 

"No, Jo, you don't want that. Jo, I'm sorry…I left you," Pacey stroked his forehead, avoiding her eyes. 

"Left me?" Joey asked. "What do you mean? You did not leave…" 

"I'm so sorry…the car." 

Joey shook her head back and forth slowly, the horror of realization creeping into her eyes. 

"What?" was all she could say, as the flashbacks she thought were just dreams became reality. 

Pacey could read the pain and hurt in her eyes when he turned to look at her finally. She could read the same in his. She wanted to run away from him all of a sudden. Instead, Joey accidentally stumbled against his familiar chest as she released her intense remorse for what she did to him and what she let happen to her. 

She could not overcome the fact he had seen her at the lowest point in her life, which strangely was the same thought Pacey had when she walked away from him on bended knee. In shock, Pacey slowly put his arm on her shoulders as she laid her head down in his lap. Could she hear how hard his heart was pounding against his chest? 

The newly inducted adults sat at the edge of the dock in that position until night completely blackened out the creek. The last time they had been together like this they had been children. 

After awhile the hands on the clock started moving again. As if she had just risen from sleep, Joey looked up at Pacey. They both opened their mouths to speak at the same time. 

"I…" They said in unison, both stopping to laugh. 

Realizing that she had been lying in his lap, she lifted her head and blushed. But she could not resist looking into his eyes to see what they were saying. 

Silently, they communicated their mutual forgiveness. 

Pacey gave in to his urge and reached out to brush his fingers along her bruised cheek. 

"Let's go home, Potter." 

****

Sanctuary Conclusion in Epilogue… 


	4. Sanctuary Epilogue

****

EPILOGUE 

CAPESIDE 

A Sunday in August 2005 

There was little movement on the streets of downtown Capeside as Joey walked down Second Street with a paint can swinging in her hand. A smile started to creep up in the left corner of her mouth as her eyes soaked in the extent her hometown had embraced her painting. What for years had been a weedy abandoned lot had become one of the most-photographed places in Capeside. Joey had laughed out loud to read that small fact on the small wooden sign in the gazebo. 

"Wonder who took that statistic," Joey smirked to herself. 

As she stood by the fountain in the foreground of her painting, Joey looked around and realized this was the best gift anyone had given or would ever give her. Joey thought Pacey could never surpass his first gift – the challenge of an empty wall. Now she had learned the greatest lesson in loyalty from him. 

Bessie finally admitted to her that Pacey had tried to plant flowers and take care of the mural by himself a couple years ago before he finally got the city's help with the landscaping. 

"When the city wanted to buy the building, he panicked at first, but realized maybe he could finally let go of your memory and protect it at the same time," Bessie had said. 

"My memory…sounds like I was dead or something." Joey murmured and trying to digest the strange reality in the metaphor. 

Joey been thinking about a final touch her painting needed all summer, and today she would finish it before Pacey left. Five hours later, she looked up to see the sun at the highest point in the sky. She had been engrossed in painting several small details into the mural as the time passed quickly. When she looked back toward the street from her crouched position on her toes, Joey almost fell backwards when she saw the amount of people who had gathered along the sidewalk on both sides of the street. She stood up slowly, wondering what had captured everyone's attention. Suddenly, Joey realized the people of Capeside were whispering behind her back just like she felt they had all her life. Just as she was turning back to her painting, hoping to conceal the look of disappointment and horror on her face, she heard the sound of applause. A sound she had never heard directed at her before. Joey, blushing severely, turned toward the street again quickly. She could not hold back the grin that took control of her face and crept into her eyes. 

"This town's almost forgotten who the mysterious artist was," Joey recognized Andie's voice over her shoulder. "What's that face for, Joey? You making me feel like I don't belong here." 

Andie wrapped her arms around her startled friend as Jen walked up from behind her capturing everything on her camcorder. 

"Well, Dawson, Joey finally has this town eating out of her hands," Jen said into the camcorders microphone for Dawson's sake. "We had to get this on tape. How could he miss this moment." 

"What moment?" Joey laughed to alleviate the embarrassment she felt. "What's going on? Please stop filming…please…OK, hello Dawson. " Joey finally said into the camera, but quickly looked away. 

"Pacey, what's going on?" Joey pointedly questioned him as he walked in front of the camera and grinned, grabbing Joey around the neck to pose for the camera. 

"Well, Andie noticed you here painting as she was driving into town," Pacey started. 

"Yeah, I almost drove off the road because I thought someone was vandalizing your painting." Andie laughed. "I was about to kick butt." 

"What are you guys doing here?" Joey continued to interrogate them, looking back toward the street nervously where people were coming and going but still watching what she was doing. "I mean here in Capeside." 

"Well, how could we miss Pacey's send-off," Jen said, still holding the camera in front of her face. 

"Oh, so, what do you guys think?" Joey directed her friends' eyes up toward the flock of gulls. 

The three of them looked at each other hoping for a clue to a change that Joey might have made to the painting in the last few hours. 

"Great, Joey," Andie said slowly still unsure what she was looking for. 

Joey could feel Pacey, who still had his arm around her, squeeze her shoulder. He looked over at her staring up at her painting with such pride and contentment in her face. All that work he had done had all been for this moment, he thought, and it had been worth it. Joey looked up at Pacey shyly, but he could read the "thank you" in her eyes. 

Andie, Pacey and Joey turned away from the painting toward the crowd that had been waiting to talk to Joey as if she were some local celebrity. Maybe they knew her history. Maybe they knew what she had been through this summer, or maybe they just appreciated her art. It did not matter to Joey any more. She was happy to see that she had made her mark on this town finally and Pacey had ensured it would last for a long time. 

Jen lagged behind as she caught the entire mural on videotape to send to Dawson. 

"Everything's going to be fine, Dawson," Jen said as her camera panned over a small word in the right corner of the painting. "What's this?" 

"Sanctuary," Jen read softly into the microphone, as she brought the camera away from her face to get a closer look at the word, which glistened with new paint. 

****

PACEY'S HOUSE 

4 p.m. 

Joey stepped down from Bessie's truck in Pacey's driveway. She walked slowly toward her small circle of old friends, her hands buried in her pockets. Their attention was focused squarely on Pacey, who was gesticulating wildly along with one of his funny stories. Joey smiled, and quietly watched them from the distance, remembering the last time they were together like this had been at the turn of the century before her actions tore them apart. 

It had been a summer of healing for Joey as she resurrected her friendship with Pacey. His constant imposition in her life helped her dig herself from the hole where she had fallen. Putting her through hell was always Pacey's method of motivation. 

Joey knew she had finally reached true freedom, and it had ironically happened in Capeside. She had chosen to stay when she had the freedom to leave if she wanted. This was her home and she had the chance to keep her mother's legacy alive in the bed and breakfast and make some more changes to this town as a graphic freelancer for the Capeside Clarion, the local daily paper. 

Jen and Andie both burst our laughing at what must have been Pacey's personal punch line. 

Joey finally made her presence known when she was within feet of them. 

"What's all this?" Joey laughed. "This doesn't look much like a teary goodbye." 

Both Jen and Andie noticed Pacey's face softened just at the sight of her. 

Thirty minutes later after his friends said their final good-byes, Pacey sat down behind the wheel of his truck. He let his legs dangle out the door, still not committed to leaving yet, wishing he could massacre the butterflies in his stomach. Not only his chance had finally come to leave Capeside to finish college in Boston, but also the girl that he had been dreaming of for years was walking toward him to say goodbye. He was actually leaving her; was he insane? 

"Well, Joey," Pacey smiled. "You still have about…um, 5 minutes to jump in the passenger seat and come with me…please" 

Pacey reached out and grabbed her hand. "Be my roomie, please. What if I forget that I registered for a class and never go and then…one day I will remember that I forgot to go…but by then I would have failed, and then I have to come back to Capeside where…" 

"Pacey," Joey laughed. "You'll be fine. And don't worry, I'll be up next weekend to make sure you're safe and sound." 

"Well, will you be lonely here without your old chum?" Pacey begged for reassurance. 

"Do you want me to be lonely?" 

"Well, I'll be lonely." Pacey stuck out his bottom lip. 

"Oh, you'll be happy to hear that I told Bessie 'yes'," Joey poked at his bottom lip to get him to put it back inside. "Now, she and the kids can move to Boston while Bodie goes to culinary school for the next two years. She promised to take over B&B detail every other weekend though, but it's all mine now." 

"Wow, Potter the entrepreneur." Pacey laughed. "Well, you deserve it, since it was our idea. But I'll still be lonely. 

"Pacey, it's your turn and you've earned it," Joey brought her face close to his, threateningly. "You'd better not blow it either." 

He grabbed her cheeks and moved her head back and forth. "Potter, you always make me feel so much better," he said lacing his words with sarcasm. 

"That's always been my job." Joey broke away from him. "Well, you'd better get on the road. Your roommate's going to take the good side of the room and all of the space in the medicine cabinet." 

Pacey stepped down out of the truck to hug his friend. As they embraced, Pacey could not help but inhale with his face buried deeply in her hair. He wanted to save all the sensory images of Joey he could. 

"Pacey," Joey whispered. "Go." 

"OK, OK." Pacey let go of her hands and climbed back up in his truck. "Can you at least come to help me unpack?" 

Joey rolled her eyes, but smiled as he shut his door. She lifted her arm to wave as he pulled out of the driveway and drove down the street. She turned to head back to her truck, trying to fight the lump in her throat. Most importantly, her heart burned with pride for Pacey. He deserved this. 

The screech of breaks and the slamming of a car door did not register until she heard heavy footsteps behind her. Joey didn't even have time to jump before Pacey grabbed her in his arms, pulled her body close to him and covered her startled, partially open mouth with his. A kiss he'd dreamt about for years and suppressing all summer. A kiss she knew so well, but never ceased to make all her senses tingle. 

Now Joey was completely sure she had come home. 

****

The End 


End file.
